There are a variety of situations in which processing image data is necessary or useful. One limitation on using image data is that typical processing techniques are computationally intensive, which tends to limit scenarios in which the image information may be used and the devices with which such image information may be used.
For example, it would be beneficial to use image data to facilitate a localization technique. Mobile station localization techniques are typically based on radio-frequency or telemetry information. Time and distance of arrival techniques are known for locating mobile stations using signals from cell towers, for example, however, such techniques may not provide sufficiently accurate location information for many situations. Some indoor localization is based on signal fingerprinting from Wi-Fi or Bluetooth access points that are already deployed in a building or location of interest. Such techniques, however, cannot achieve sub-meter accuracy for localization under most circumstances. Other techniques that have been proposed may provide better results than such techniques, however, they require specialized equipment and additional expense.
State of the art indoor localization techniques may be based upon image information, key point detection and matching. Such techniques usually require full-size image processing, which limits the ability to use such techniques with a variety of portable devices, such as mobile stations.